Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-08-19

I with 'em, they was hiStm' that stream ur
hill so fast, but grabbed an clawed right
an left, an throw'd suckers out ON the
bank BY the wagon hOad / strung suck
T ers along the banks fer a miled an still
the iiocd weat rollin' up hill ez easy ez
pickin up sticks The head waters o.
Sloplick creek was in swamp almost on
the top of Boohy ridge. Ez were runnin'
along ahind that sucker b.ak all of a sud
dent il struck me that if nothin' happened
TO stop EN-, them suckers d shove the cree /
clean through the swamp, the way they
was goin', and push her on over the ridge,
an they'd go helleyteboot down t'other
side an wipe Slaycrop's clearing often
the face of creation quicker'n n lightnin'
could melt a tub of butter were bound
To see the fun, an if suckers want the
tnnidest an skeereSt critters th't swims,
that fund "A come TO pass.
1T had happened, sonny, th't only tfe
day afore this high ol' sucker fishin' o
mine | had considered il leetle piece q
duty owed 10 the community to pitch
inter ShadraCk Jsmberry, oil Poke Jam
berrys boy. an lam him the prOpcrest
kind. Consistently he had grudge 4 in
me. He lived clus 10 the creek, near y
two miied above our place, at the Fiddler $
Elbow bend This bend were so sharp
th't ez me an the suckers an the creek
We're comm to'ard the bend see Shad-
rack standin' on the bank, an he see me
Th' want nuthin' selfish about me. so
hollered TO Shadrack, to show him th't l
didn't hcv no hard feelin's, To come back
an foller the circus, an lay in n stock o.
suckers agin a coon famine. But Shad-
rack want of meek an forgivin'
natur' like me, an so, instid q takln' the
olive branch | offered, he grabs up a
couple q big Stuns an chuCks 'em in the
water ahead o. me an the suckers. That
skeer the timid fish th't was in the lead,
an they got demor' liZed an turned tail
The panic spread to the whole Caboodle o.
suckers, an the fust thing l know'd
Were h'isted up in the air Zif Id ben
blUwed up in n blast, an wh-o-o-o-O, away
l were guin' back down stream like \ hail
storm in a hurryCane y wind! Thar /
Were, Pcleg ridn' high an dry on big
raft y suckers, an agoin' sumpin' like
miled minute, boun' fer somewhat but
whar | didn't know. Ye orter be very
thankful, sonny, th't yer a livin' now an
not in them days, wen us pioneers was a
sutferin' an runnin' risks like that, jist
Ia plant civ lization an git it III shape fer
folks that's livin' now,
Il were boosted way us so high by that
raft u demon lized suckers th't ez we
tore to'ard our folks's clearin' could look
right down over the raise 'twiyt ii an the
creek, an ez we come higher l could see
my hard wOrkin' pap settin' in the cabin
door smokin' his corn cob pipe an my
easy guin' NANNY a chopin wood to git
supper with. Thinks | to myself, /
wonder if they'll ever find me when this
runaway flood o bilin' waters an panic
struck suckers comes to a head some'rsf
An jist then We struck the bend in the
creek nigh the clearin' The bend were
bout ez sudden eZ the angle in a ship
knee, an wen the walls o. suckers
piunked agin il, the bank o the bend bein'
twenty-five foot high an all rock. 'twere
like the comm together o two engines.
The body q the army were fetched up a
standin. but me an the top layers o. the
sucker raft was five foot highern the
rocks. an ez we hadn't hit nu.hin' we kept
straight on. We left the water route, an
Travelled the rest o. the way by the air line,
nn fore my good ol' parents know'd wat
hit EN- they was kivered snug an COM
for bic in under sumpin' like half an acre
o suckers, not countin' me. 1t took me
quite W lie 20 dig the oil folks out; but
they want hurt anything wuth men
tionin'. My folks want noways noted
for bein' curious 'bOHt things. an all th't
We're ever said bout that big sucker fish
o mine was this. Nam says: Wizard
ye ketch 'em,' In the bend O. the creek,
says. I've alluz heerd,' says pap, th't
the best time to ketch suckers were on
the fust food, an this makes it good
An that ended il; but we had fresh suck
ers, an salt suckers, an smoked suckers,
an sucker pop from then on till the mex
Chris mas. 80, ye see, Peleg, that them
wild waves didn't say nOthin' To me, but
they got right up an done, am
The Old Settler was cut short off in
whatever moral he intended to draw. for
the doing cat hurled herself against his
stomach by one wild leap from the splint
bottomed rocking chair, and with a yell
that scared dog on the opposite side of
the road and brought Peleg's grandmother
out Of the sitting room on IA trot. The cat
sank its claws deeper and deeper into the
Old Settler and he joined in the yelling
Little Pcleg went quietly out Of the
kitchen door, and b: the time his grand
mother had removed a patent clothes pin
from the cats tail he was half way over %
Bill Simmons SD Mott i'll New York
sun.